(1). Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical panels having a series of circuit breakers and, more particularly, to an electrical distribution computer for controlling the operation of its circuit breakers in response to a pre-programmed energy conservation schedule.
(2). Description of the Prior Art
Energy conservation remains important today. Particularly in medium to large convenience and general retail stores, such as WalMart, significant energy savings can be obtained by reliably controlling heating, cooling and lighting according to an energy conservative schedule which does not inconvenience the customer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,307, issued to Brooks et al., discloses an automation and energy management system which includes an automation panel box which may be positioned adjacent to a circuit breaker panel box. The automation panel box includes one or more circuit breaker control modules,one or more device control modules and a power module for providing power to the control modules. The circuit breaker control module provides signals to operate motorized circuit breakers, so as to turn on or off the power to a device being managed and the device control module provides signals to control individual appliances. Each of the two control modules is capable of controlling up to eight different circuit breakers or eight different individual devices and each includes a manual override button for each breaker or device controlled, which override button can be manually pressed by a person desiring to override the automation and energy management control. Each control module includes a counting circuit which sequentially enables one of several toggle circuits that sustains the state of each circuit breaker (or appliance switch). A facility computer generally communicates with the modules over a bus and issues commands to cause certain automatic functions of energy management to occur.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,051, issued to Bilas et al., discloses a remotely controllable circuit breaker device for interrupting power in a circuit path between a source and a load which includes local and remote monitoring capabilities and a worm-gear mechanism for reliable control of the interruption mechanism. The device includes a first contact and a second contact cooperatively arranged in the circuit path so as to provide current from the source to the load. At least one of the contacts are movable for interrupting the power provided to the load. The worm gear mechanism includes a motor with a rotatable shaft which responds to open and closed control signals generated from a remote location, and a gear,rotatably responsive to the rotatable shaft, for controlling the movable contact so that the circuit path is interrupted and established, respectively. The worm gear mechanism controls the movable contact using a coupling arrangement, which has a first part coupled to the movable contact and a second part coupled to the gear.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,646, issued to Farrington, discloses a circuit breaker system which uses a microprocessor for calculating at least one function of a measured current flow. The microprocessor provides other functions such as serial data stream communications, the ability of many circuit breaker systems to communicate with a central computer, storage of trip information concerning the last trip, storage of historical trip information concerning a number of past trips, EEPROM memory for storing trip information. The microprocessor may inhibit tripping on a high current fault to permit storage of trip information into a memory. Power is derived from current transformers drawing energy from current flow to a load and the electronics are protected from high voltage caused by heavy current flow to the load. Optical isolators are used for the circuit breaker to communicate with external equipment. A multi-turn resistor adjusts an external test voltage for testing the circuit breaker system. In the event that there is no load or a load drawing insufficient current to provide power for the electronics the circuit breaker may be externally powered to provide readout of electrically erasable programmable read only memory. The microprocessor reads setting switches and a multiplier plug. Also the microprocessor is capable of digitizing selected quantities frequently and of digitizing other quantities less frequently. A second microprocessor permits one microprocessor to sampler voltage and current rapidly for metering purposes, and the second microprocessor operates other functions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,058, issued to Brown, discloses an automation and energy management system which includes an automation panel box which may be positioned adjacent to a circuit breaker panel box. The automation panel box includes one or more circuit breaker control modules, one or more device control modules and a power module for providing power to the control modules. The circuit breaker control module provides signals to operate motorized circuit breakers, so as to turn on or off the power to a device being managed and the device control module provides signals to control individual appliances. Each of the two control modules is capable of controlling up to eight different circuit breakers or eight different individual devices and each includes a manual override button for each breaker or device controlled, which override button can be manually pressed by a person desiring to override the automation and energy management control. In addition, each of the modules includes status terminals for receiving status signals from the devices being controlled to indicate whether control is to occur or to be overridden. A facility computer generally communicates with the modules over a bus and issues commands to cause certain automatic functions or energy management to occur. The signals on the status lines can override the facility computer signals and the actuation of one of the reset buttons can override either the status signals or the facility controller.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,859, issued to Erickson et al., discloses an electric circuit breaker capable of being opened and closed from a remote location. The circuit breaker includes a stationary contact, amovable contact mounted on a carrier and a trip mechanism that trips the circuit breaker, moving the carrier to an open position upon the occurrence of an overcurrent. The remote control assembly opens and closes the circuit breaker independently of the trip mechanism. Upon receiving a signal from a timer switch, a motor operates, rotating a gear spring connected to the motor shaft. An actuator has a tooth positioned between the wire layers of the gear spring. As the gear spring rotates, the tooth moves toward the motor, pivoting the actuator. An operating rod, connected to both the actuator and the carrier, pulls the carrier to open the contacts as the actuator rotates. When the contacts reach the open position, the actuator hits a switch to shut off the motor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,131,776, issued to Ehrenberger, discloses a motorized drive assembly for a circuit breaker operator which includes a follower mounted on a free wheeling double helix shaft which extends in the direction of movement of the operator between "TRIP," "RESET" and "ON" positions, the shaft being driven by an electric motor through a disengageable gearset controlled by a solenoid. The follower engages the operator, and upon rotation of the shaft the follower moves in one direction carrying the operator from a TRIP position to a RESET position. At this point, the follower has moved as far as one of the double helices will carry it in that direction, whereupon internally projecting lugs of the follower engage the other helix for movement in the opposite direction to carry the operator from the RESET to the ON position in which the breaker contacts are closed. The solenoid is then de-energized whereupon the gearset disengages, and the double helix shaft becomes free-wheeling which allows the follower to move freely when the circuit breaker trips causing the operator to move from the ON position to the TRIP position.
In addition to the advent of motorized circuit breakers, such as discussed above, there are now available single-board-computers which include a CPU, RAM, display and keyboard connectors, and serial and parallel outputs. These computers, heretofore, were too large to be directly connected to motorized circuit breakers in a single, unitary electrical distribution panel.
Thus, there remains a need for a new and improved electrical distribution computer panel having a plurality of motorized circuit breakers and an imbedded computer control system for selectively controlling each of the motorized circuit breakers in response to a pre-programmed energy conservation schedule.